The Reveal

Current Song in Head: We Built this City on Rock 'n' Roll, Homer Simpson-style...

Finally, after a week or so of playing around with the HTML template and Flash MX, I've finally created a blog skin of my own. It may not be fancy, but I'm proud to say that I managed to make it look half decent!

Thanks to my fellow farter, We Y, I'm able to link an mp3 file to the blog. =) And thanks to my little princess for giving me comments on the blog. Couldn't find a way to convert the Flash movie to a JPEG movie thou, so I guess you all have to bear with the long loading time.

We built this city, we built this city, we built this city on rock 'n' roll!!!

I wonder why this song came into my head suddenly at work today. Worst/Best of all, its in Homer Simpson off key re-mix version!

No Man's Land

Current Song in Head: Love Foolosophy, Jamiroquai

I thought I've seen it all.

It all started with the location of my industrial attachment company. Its situated right beside Alexandra Distripark and Alexandra Industrial Park. It was then when it dawned on me that my future working place would have some pathetic, industrial sounding names like these.

Shite, I'm probably going to work in a godforsaken place where everything around me is either grey or industrial blue. Don't ask me what industrial blue looks like, you'll know it when you see it.

My worse fears were confirmed when I started work at my current company. Located at the hearts of Inner Mongolia, its along a road called Benoi Sector. Who the fish calls a road Benoi Sector?!?! What the hell was the government/LTA/Road Naming Association of Singapore thinking when they decided to name a particular road with 'Sector' in it? Are they trying to make a fool of the people working there?

Well, they certainly acheive that in my case. Really bugs me that I work in Benoi Sector. Sounds god damn industrial with a slight military tinge to it.

And I thought I got it bad...

It just occurred to me today that there are people working in worse off sounding places. One of my company's suppliers paid a visit today. She handed me a catalogue of the company's products. I took a look at the cover of the catalogue. Lo and behold, printed proudly on the cover of the catalogue was the address of the company.

Woodlands Sector.

Hmmmm... Thats not too bad, at least I know there are people working in other 'Sectors' around Singapore, I thought

And then I read the next line.

Woodlands Spectrum.

Jesus Christ! Do people really name their buildings with Spectrum? My god... Now I really have seen it all. If they are out to make the engineers' life miserable, the management of Woodlands Spectrum were spot on.

I don't know if its me, but this must rank right up there in the list of Industrial sounding locations. Thank goodness I'm not working there. I'll probably go to the highest floor of Woodlands Spectrum, jump, and splatter my body on Woodlands Sector.

P.S. Anyone heard of more industrial sounding road names or building names? Do drop me a comment!

Me Room in 4 month's time!

Current Song in Head: Don't Dream It's Over, Six Pence None the Richer

Feeling rather bored now but excited about the future. So I spent some time doing something totally useless... Here's how my room is going to look like in 4 month's time (hopefully)!

Of course, if my parents had their choice, I would probably be using the same furnitures/antiques/junk as before. But I'm going to have spending power in 4 month's time, so hopefully I'll be able to do up my room, in my way. Rather pathetic hearing this coming from a 25 year old. Sigh...

Slow day at work...

Current Song in Head: Nothing, just the humming of the air-con...

Sigh... Having a slow day in the office today and then this thought came to me. You know how the Initial D lead, Takumi, sees everything in slow motion when he drives? And then his father says that it actually means he is getting really good at his driving?

I wonder if its thats same for working. Everything seems to be going in slow motion... Does that mean I'm getting good at work? I certainly hope so. Haha...

But the ugly truth is, I'm having trouble learning Visual Basic .Net. Arghhh!!!! Ok, enough griping, back to work...

I'm a Chandler!

Current Song in Head: I'll be there for you, The Rembrandts (what else?)

Just did this quiz and it turns out, I'm a Chandler/chandelier/chandy. Was hoping that I would be a Joey, cause I really like that dumb actor character. Haha... But I guess the practical joker isn't that bad a role to take. At least I wasn't a Ross. Totally hate the loser-in-love character.

You scored as Chandler. You're Chandler. The sarcastic commitment phobe. Could you BE any funnier. Chandler 65% Joey 60% Rachel 40% Phoebe 40% Monica 40% Ross 35% Which Friend are you? created with QuizFarm.com

For the record, the order of my Friends from favourite to least favourite is as follows: Joey, Phoebe (kooky and weird in the funny sort of way), Chandler, Monica (too neat for my liking), Rachel (too drama mama for my liking) and finally Loser Ross.

Wham Bam Slam!

Current Song in Head: One Headlight (pun intended), The Wallflowers

First off, I'm still alive, but my ride for the past 2 years or so is not. Got into an accident on Sunday and the Nissan Sunny is totalled. As you can see from the pictures I'm the party at fault, cause my Nissan sodomised a Merc Taxi. Here's a blow by blow account of what happened.

Thengz was happily driving to his girlfriend's place on a wet Sunday morning. The plan was to go East Coast Park to blade with some of his mates. Although the rain should be a clear enough sign for him to stay at home, Thengz, being a rollerblading freak, didn't take the hint.

So off he went, singing to the songs on his car radio (something by Don McLean), and as he travelled along Queensway Road, he decided to change lane from lane 1 to lane 2. For those of you who don't drive, and those of you who drive but don't know about the rules, lane 1 is the fastest lane and so on.

As Thengz was about to complete his lane change, there was a sudden stop by the Merc Taxi in front of him! Another car (Farker) on lane 3 decided to make a sudden lane change to lane 2 in an attempt to avoid a bus that was coming out of the bus lane. In doing so, the Merc Taxi had to brake suddenly to avoid colliding into him.

But alas! The Thengz Mobile could not stop in time on the wet road and collided into the Merc Taxi. The worst part is, the Farker who caused the accident sped off into the horizon. Bloody 'ell!

Here's some more pictures of the damaged Nissan and the more or less undamaged Merc...

There was barely a dent on it! Reminds me of the time when my Rover collided into a Volvo, now thats another story/accident for another day...

Oreos Heaven

Current Song in Head: Yellow, Coldplay

I've just completed my course in Visual Basic .Net. As some of you might know, I've sold my soul to the devil and would be living a boring existence as a software engineer for god knows how long. In order to get me prepared for this boring existence, my company sent me for this Visual Basic .Net course. Not too sure how much I've learnt there, but in order to seem professional, I'll just pretend that I've learn lots of stuff there.

Ok, let me cut to the chase. During one of my many breaks in the course of my 5 day course, I stumbled upon this treasure trove...

No shit! Its Oreos Heaven! Yep, the Mother of all Twist, Lick and Dunk cookies! I thought I've done and I'm at St. Oreo's Gate. I thought stacks of Oreos like these can only be found in a super market! But apparently not. The auntie I spoke to said that since the company conducts courses everyday, they stock up alot on tidbits.

And apparently what I'm seeing here is not even a month's supply of Oreos. Probably 3 weeks tops! Lets see, 2 columns of 6 boxes and 4 boxes in each row, with a depth of 3 boxes... Holy cow, thats 144 boxes of Oreos.

Man... How I wish I'm working there. I can eat Oreos till I drop dead and there would still be more Oreos around. Bloody 'ell... But noooo.... I have to be at a company where I'll be lucky if I can find a packet of 3 in 1 coffee mix in the pantry... @$%!@$#@!!!!!

And here's another picture. The auntie gamely posed and pretend to be arranging the Oreo boxes... Haha... Thengz have killed yet another auntie... Either that or Auntie Oreos probably thought I'm going mad and decided to grant me my last wish...

Panama Canal

Current Song in Head: None

The following incident happened during a presentation by my boss.

Boss Chua flashes a picture similar to the one below on the projector

Boss Chua: "Can anyone tell me how much a ship like this have to pay to cross the Panama Canal?"

Employee 1: "Erm... US$50,000?"

Boss Chua: "US$50,000, ok, any other guesses?"

Employee 2: "How about $US100,000?"

Boss Chua: "US$100,000, close but not close enough. The actual cost is US$400,000."

All in attendance: "Wah.... So much, blah blah blah...yak yak yak..."

Boss Chua: "The fee each ship has to pay to pass through the Panama Canal is dependant on the cargo it has on it. The more expensive the cargo is, the higher the price of the fee paid. Ok, now can anyone tell me how much did it cost a man, who was out to break a record, to swim across the Panama Canal?"

The entire room went silent... And then one wise ass tried his luck.

Wise Ass Thengz: "Depends on how much his swimming trunks cost lor."

Man, I'm really good at these kind of wise cracks. Haha... Should have been a comedian. Bloody wrong career choice to be an engineer. Darn...

For the record, the answer to the man swimming across the Panama Canal is US$8. That must've been one expensive pair of swimming trunks....

Fancy a game of Poling?

Current Song in Head: Sitting, Waiting, Wishing, Jack Johnson

The exciting sport of Poling, not to be mistaken with its Olympic cousin pole vaulting or the process of casting your votes (polling), draws its roots from the brutal 8th century post-war ritual. The victorious side would get to toss their opponents into the air and spear or ‘pole’ them.

With the modernization of the world, a more humane stand has been taken towards these ancient barbaric sports. Even the kicking of an enemy’s beheaded head has become the world’s favourite sport (except in the US of A) and Poling is no different.

Today’s form of Poling has been toned down a notch or two. Gone are the days where a post-Poling game requires a day’s work just to wipe the blood off the ground. These days, only tears and a little bit of sweat have to be cleaned up.

The following picture shows the game of Poling in progress. The Polers (usually 5 to 6 of them) would hoist the Polee up and systematically ram the Polee’s gonads into the Pole. Timing is crucial in this sport. A mis-timed rammed could mean that the intended target is missed. As a result, a Timer is often appointed in the group. The Timer’s role is very much like the drummer’s role in a dragon boat team. The Polers would ram the Polee whenever the Timer gives the timing to.

Teamwork is also an important factor in this game. More often than not, the Polee would be uncooperative, which is why it is essential for the Polers to work as a synchronized group.

Besides the Timer, the next most important role in a team of Polers is that of the Lead Man. The Lead Man is tasked with taking aim at the pole. Should the Polee’s gonads miss the Pole, more often than not, it is the fault of the Lead Man. Therefore, it is essential for the Lead Man to have a good vision and an eye for the balls.

A single round of Poling would end after the Polee either starts screaming for his mummy or faints (whichever comes first). When a round is over, the Polee would become one of the Polers and would nominate the next Polee from the existing group of Polers. After doing so, another round of Poling can begin…